African Journeys

In Memory of Chadwick Boseman.

Yesterday, at the tender age of 43, our beloved brother left our earthly plane. Chad chose to portray the lives of legendary Black men such as James Brown, Jackie Robinson, and Thurgood Marshall. He portrayed a vietnam vet in "Da 5 Bloods" and we will never forget the epic King T'Challa in Black Panther.

He approached each character with the same level of excellence with which they lived their lives. He lived and acted purposefully. In Black Panther the global Black community found inspiration to imagine a place for Blacks protected from the forces of racism and neo-colonialism if just for two hours.

Thank you brother for working through the unimaginable pain of colon cancer out of love for your people and culture.

We Are Still Here; Just took a needed break.

Yesterday, two historical freedom fighters, moved on from this earthly realm to join the ancestors and to recieve their crowns; Congressman John Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian put in work that made our burdens lighter. Thank you for your work brothers- rest in power.

Magic Johnson offering $100 million in loans to minority-owned businesses left out of PPP loans

Food For Thought......

Alberto N. Jones: 'There are twenty tourist-dependent regions in the world, eleven of whom are in the Caribbean, which does not bode well for the region in a post COVID-19 environment.

Without an immediate CARICOM economical integration of their meager mono-agriculture exports, collapsing oil industry, crippled bauxite production and a 30 feet high xenophobic wall keeping them out of the US, 30 million men, women and children will be facing a devastating famine and social displacement as the world has never seen before.

Fortunately, 45 million Afro Americans are living a few hundreds miles away, who never had a welcoming, loving and respectful nation of their own and where, since the dark days of slavery, lynching, segregation, rape, massive incarceration, racism, ignorance, police brutality and impunity is the law of the land.

Today these malady are greatly exacerbated by hatred, racial, religious, sexual and economical divisions encouraged and promoted by the present administration.

Blacks in the diaspora may not need to complain anymore about our children miseducation, demand justice, march, hold vigils, confront fire hoses and vicious dogs as it was during the civil rights struggle. We can unite with our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean and together we can begin building the nation we want.

Let's turn the Caribbean into our homeland, not only into our playground.'

Magic Johnson offering $100 million in loans to minority-owned businesses left out of PPP loans The Los Angeles Lakers great partnered with MBE Capital Partners to offer loans to minority- and women-owned companies.

Name the 7 islands and 1 country from which Blacks came to build the Panama Canal.

Would you travel to Panama? We are returning in 2021!

Today is "The Day of Braids" in Panama. In Panama, as in all the Americas, White beauty aesthetics became the social norm for many decades and there were discriminatory laws prohibiting men and women being able to wear braided/loced hair to work, schools, and other social spaces.

Over the years Black Panamanians inspired by their cultural rennaissance began to openly challenge these social norms resulting in the elimination of those racist rules. Hence, May 18th 2012 being declared national "The Day of The Braids" during Black heritage month celebration.

Star Fish Beach; Bocas Del Toro, Panama.

What is the ongoing linguistic influence of Africa in Panama?. Join this fb live conversation as we commemorate 500+ years African presence in Panama during our 20th anniversary of Mes Etnia Negra.
👉 facebook.com/SomosAfro (7pm Pma time)

Casa Congo, the only hotel in the bay city of Portobelo, will be our lodging sites when touring the area or for private tour customers.

https://www.facebook.com/208137589364800/posts/1457741244404422/?substory_index=0

Las habitaciones Rey y Reina Congo son muy cómodas. Cuentan con cama king, neverita, televisor, escritorio y aire acondicionado. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Su terraza te invita a relajarte en una silla o en la hamaca, a disfrutar de las hermosas vistas de la Bahía de Portobelo y a contemplar increíbles atardeceres sobre el mar Caribe.

Family, these are virtual scheduled forums that will be hosted today starting at 10am (11am e.s.t) hosted by Senadap one of Panama leading Black organizations.

Kindly check the SENADAP Fb page to join the dialogues. Please note that most of this will be in Spanish though i have lodged a "constructive critique" that some of this work needs to be done in English also because there are second and third generation Panamanians in the US who do not speak spanish along with Afro Caribbeans and African Americans and Africans as well who are interested in the history and culture.

Cumbia Viva Panamá - Ballet Folklórico Ritmos y Raíces Panameñas

Cumbia Panamena (National Folkloric Dance)

This is what the original African music and dance eventually evolved into; its called "Cumbia" and it has become the national music and dance. It is also a shared tradition with Colombia to the south of which Panama was a part of until 1904.

Do you see and hear the African Tamboritos?. 🌍🇵🇦🌎

Cumbia Viva Panamá - Ballet Folklórico Ritmos y Raíces Panameñas Cumbia Viva Panamá - Gala Folklórica del Ballet Folklórico Ritmos y Raíces Panameñas - 18/nov/2011

El Tamborito de Panamá

El Tamborito (The Little Drum)
The Tamborito and its companion drums are of west African origin retained primarily by Congos from the caribbean coastline. The rythms, vocal harmonies, call and response, and dance are all of African origin retained through the centuries and expressed in Panamanian creole.

In time it became adopted by Creoles living in the outer provinces where escaped Africans were present becoming Panama's national folkloric music and dance. 🌍🇵🇦🌎

El Tamborito de Panamá Panamá es cultura y tradición y una de sus más hipnóticas prácticas es El Tamborito, en donde un grupo de hombres hacen sonar sus tambores en espacios públic...

Ola de la Mar-Congos de colón

Ola de la Mar-Congos de colón

EL COCO, GRUPO DE CONGO DALE DURO DE MIRAMAR ,COLON, PANAMA

Congos De Colon/Congos of Colon.

The first Africans to arrive on the Isthmus of Panama were brought enslaved by Spaniard colonizers in 1513. As the years waned many would escape into the interior of Panama establishing Palenques as cimarrones (marroon communities) and others settled into enclaves on the caribbean coast of the Province of Colon.

Throughout these years these African descendants retained many of their various west african cultural practices in food, music, dance, linguistics, and community organization such as the retention of the Queen Mother. Enjoy the video. More to come.

EL COCO, GRUPO DE CONGO DALE DURO DE MIRAMAR ,COLON, PANAMA Musica Afro Colonial Grupo de congos dale Duro Miramar Colón Republica de Panama Distrito de Santa Isabel, Para Presentaciones LLamar al (507) 62149381 Tomas...

Lord Panama - Calypso en Panama - CBS (Full Album)

Calypso, native to Trinidad & Tobago, was brought by Bajans and Panamanian merchant marines who worked for Exxon (aka ESSO)traveling to Trinidad on oil tankers via the Panama Canal.

Lord Panama was one of Caribbean communities most succesful pana-caribbean calipsonians who created a unique local sound that incorporated latin harmonies with caribbean rhythms and spanglish lyrics.

Lord Panama - Calypso en Panama - CBS (Full Album) Tracklist 1 Calypso En Panamá 2 Lolita Mi Cholita 3 Hot Dog Man 4 Merengue Calypso 5 Melda's Cod Fish 6 Me Tiene Loco 7 Limon Girl 8 Pana Reggae

"20 years of struggle and pride". 5/28/2010 commemorating 500 years of African presence in Panama.

Commemorating 500 years of african presence in Panama. photo credit: Grupo Afro Panama.

Andre Harrell, Founding Father Of Hip-Hop Soul, Dead At 59

Salute to Andre Harrell whose musical instinct shaped the sound track of a generation.

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/09/853353545/andre-harrell-founding-father-of-hip-hop-soul-dead-at-59

Andre Harrell, Founding Father Of Hip-Hop Soul, Dead At 59 Andre Harrell, a record executive who shepherded the careers of Mary J. Blige and Sean "Diddy" Combs and combined the sounds of R&B and hip-hop with his label, Uptown Records, has died.

We invite you to tune in at 7pm to "A History of 20 years of Black Celebration" in Rio Abajo, Panama. Click the link 👇and enjoy.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84733776555?pwd=V0QveWVuTFM4R3Nlek0vK0lBV3A1QT09

Twi is the indigenous main language spoken in Ghana by the Asante and Akan people. Its pretty much the natiional language amongst other languages. If you are interested kindly check the Adinkra Group for details. Enjoy.

Its Panama's Black Heritage Month! Join us for a series of discussions and workshops on the history and contributions of afro descendants in Panama. 🌍🌎🇵🇦

Sounds of blackness Optimistic

"Optimistic"; someone needs to hear this.

Sounds of blackness Optimistic

Yuleika Watler Catuy;

Doriel Larrier;

Nyamal Dei.

In Memoriam-

Jonathan Adewumi was without a doubt of one of Nigeria's best "unofficial" cultural ambassadors in their Brooklyn diaspora.

Jonathan was a proud Yoruba; a fellow Brooklyn Tech '80 graduate; assistant to the late Nigerian literary giant Chinwa Achebe; co-owner of the Brooklyn powerhouse cultural eatery @Amarachi restaurant at the Manhattan Bridge; A Kappa who established the first and only chapter in Nigeria; a jokester; counselor to many; supporter of many cultural projects in Brooklyn; and above all a dear friend and human beign.

I will never forget the conversation with my son when he lovingly challenged him to leave a positive impact on the world as a 7th grader.

I met the current Ooni of the Yorubas on his first trip outside Nigeria at his spot. I hosted my wedding reception and first church anniversary at Amarachi and would drop in for good food and chat with my classmate. Finally, we were planning on partnering on tours to Nigeria through his tour company established in Lagos.

To say we, the Brooklyn community, are going to miss this king is an understatement. Let us honor on our platforms the men and women in our communities, big or small, who have left mark in our diasporic communities.

Rich Honeywell